Major Astronomical Catalogs
(listed by principal information cataloged)

1. The Simbad Catalog can be accessed at http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/Simbad.  This electronic database is under constant revision.  As of 7:58 pm on 29 August 2009 it referenced 4,679,204 objects.

1. Almagest of Ptolemy.  1025 naked-eye stars.  Earliest known catalog.  Constructed by Hipparchus in 128 B.C., reduced for precession to 138 A.D. by Ptolemy.  Of historical value only.
2. Flamsteed's catalog.  c. 1700 A>D>  First catalog with telescopic positions, hence the oldest positions of current sdcientific value.
3. *Bonner Durchmusterung (BD) of Argelander.  320,000 stars.  -2° £ δ £ 90°.  Limiting m_v » 9.5.  Epoch 1855.  Stars arranged by δ zones of 1° width, listed in order of increasing α in each zone, e.g., Vega = BD +38°3238 is the 3238th star encountered in direction of increasing α in the zone 38° £ δ £ 39°.  Warning:  Because of precession, many of the stars in the BD catalog have changed declination zones by 1° since 1855.  (Stars with -6^hr £ α £ +6^hr have experienced increases in declination and stars with +6^hr £ α £ +18^hr have experienced decreases.
4. *Southern Durchmusterung (SD).  Southern extension of the BD to -23° by Schoenfeld , student of Argelander 133,000 stars.  The BD conventions for listing of stars have been followed.
5. *Cordoba Durchmusterung (CDM or sometimes CD).  A further extension of the BD to -62° by Thome and later to -90° by Perrine.  580,000 stars to m_v » 10.
   
   *The BD, SD and CDM catalogs are sometimes abbreviated collectively as DM.  Hence Vega = BD +38°3238 =
     DM +38°3238 .
    
6. Cape Photographic Durchmusterung (CPD).  An independent southern survey from δ £ -18° to -90° by Gill and Kapteyn.  455,000 stars.
7. Astronomische Gesellschaft Katalog (AGK, AGK2, AGK3).  So-called "zone catalogs" giving accurate positions of 144,128 stars.  A cooperative effort in which different observatories surveyed different sky zones.  Original catalog (AGK) gives positions for the late 19th century referred to the 1875 equinox.  Updated catalogs (AGK2 and AGK3) give more recent positions (c. 1930 and c. 1960), necessitated because of proper motions.
8. Carte du Ciel Catalogue (CdC) also designated as the Astrographic Catalogue. (AC).  Covers entire sky.  Charts are complete to 14th magnitude and catalog to 11th magnitude.  Positions are given as x,y coordinates and must be transformed to α and δ.
9. §Hipparcos Catalog (1997).  Positions of 118,218 stars with an accuracy of 0.001" to 0.003".
10. §Tycho-1 Catalog (1997).  Positions of 1,058,332 stars.  Positions not so accurate as those in Hipparcos.
11. §Tycho-2 Catalog (2002) Positions of 2.5´10⁶ stars.  Access at The Tycho-2 Catalogue.
    
    §Hipparcos Catalog, Tycho-1 Catalog and Tycho-2 Catalog are all based on observations acquired by the Hipparcos
       astrometric satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA) between November 1989 and March 1993.  All data in the
       Hipparcos Catalog and the Tycho-1 Catalog with improved accuracy as well as much additional data are contained in the
       Tycho-2 Catalog. 

A list of major, currently useful astrometric catalogs is maintained by the US Naval Observatory and can be accessed at
ASTROMETRIC CATALOGS.

1. General Catalogue of Trigonometric Stellar Parallaxes by Louise F. Jenkins (1952) for 5822 stars, extended in a supplement by the same author (1963) to 6404 stars.  Also gives m, Sp, and μ.  The distribution of parallaxes in the catalog is:

Proper motions:

1. Third and Fourth Fundamental Katalog des Berliner Astronomische Jahrbucher (FK3 and FK4) (1936 and 1963).  The FK4 defines the most widely used astronomical coordinate reference system.
2. Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Star Catalog (SAOC) (1966).  For the epoch and equinox of 1950.  258,997 stars.  On the FK$ system.  Covers the entire sky.
3. General Catalogue of 33342 Stars for the Epoch 1950 (GC) by Benjamin Boss (1937).
4. Preliminary General Catalogue of 6188 Stars (PGC) by Lewis Boss (1910).
5. LHS Catalogue by J.J. Luyten (1979), Pub. Univ. of Minnesota.  A list of know stars with μ ³ 0.50 "/yr.
6. Lowell Proper Motion Survey, Northern Hemisphere (1971) by H.L. Giclas, R. Burnham, Jr., and N.G. Thomas, Flagstaff, Arizona. Lowell Observatory.
7. The Hipparcos Catalog and Tycho-2 Catalog (see above) give positions of high quality that can be used for proper motion work.

Radial velocities:

1. General Catalog of Stellar Radial Velocities (1953) by R.E. Wilson.  15,106 stars distributed in radial velocity [km/s] as follows:

     2.   Bibliography of Stellar Radial Velocities (1972) by H.A. Abt and Eleanor S. Biggs.

     3.   General Catalog of Mean Radial Velocities  (Barbier-Brossat, 2000) can be accessed at http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/viz-
            bin/Cat?III/213.

Spectral Classificiations:

1. Henry Draper Catalog (HD).  225,300 stars in 9 volumes puglished from 1918 to 1924.  Complete to m » 8.3.  Incomplete for listings to m » 9.0.  compiled by Annie Cannon and Edward Pickering of Horvard Observatory.  Listed in order of right ascension.  Later extended by Cannon and Margaret Mayall to 272,125 stars.  The extension ceversa limited sky areas and includes stars as faint as m » 12.0.  Stars in the extension are designated in the literature with either the "HD" or sometimes an "HDE" prefix.

Stellar Photometry:

1. Photoelectric Catalogue, Publications of the United States Naval Observatory, Ser. II, Vol XXI (1970) by V.M. Blanco, et al.  Gives UBV photometric data for 20,705 stars.

Bright Stars:

1. The Bright Star Catalogue published Yale Observatory, most recently revised in 1982.   Lists 9096 stars brighter than m_v » 6.50 (although these include 695 stars fainter than 6.50 and also 208 stars brighter than 6.50 are not included).  Both the prefixes "BS" and "HR" are used to refer to catalogues stars by number.  This is because the numbers were adopted from the Harvard Revised Photometry Catalog (hence "HR").  Data given are HR number; Flamsteed, Bayer, DM and HD numbers; status as an infrared source, multiple star or variable; equatorial coordinates for 1900 and 2000, galactic coordinates, V magnitude; B-V, U-B and R-I color indices; spectral class, annual proper motion in α and δ, trigonometric (or dynamical) parallax, radial velocity, projected rotational velocity and, for multiple systems only, the magnitude difference between the two brightest components, their separation and the number of stars in the system.  Also includes miscellaneous remarks.

Double Stars:

1. General Catalogue of Double Stars within 120° of the North Pole (BDS) by Burnham in 1906.
2. New General Catalogue of Double Stars within 120° of the North Pole (ADS) by Aitken in 1934.  A revision and extension of BDS.  Still very commonly cited.
3. Index Catalogue of Visual Double Stars by C.E. Worley (1984).  Gives data on 70,000 systems.

Extended Objects:  (see also the reference list on p. xxi of RNGC)

1. Messier's Catalogue of Diffuse Objects.  103 pitfall objects to be avoided by the comet-seeker.  Objects listed by French comet-seeker Messier.  These bright, usually spectacular, objects are often referenced by the prefix "M" affixed to their catalog number.  The catalogue is reproduced at Messier's Catalog.
2. New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Cluster of Stars (NGC) published by J.L.E. Dreyer in 1888.  7840 objects are included (all that were known in 1888).
3. The Revised New General Catalogue of Non-stellar Astronomical Objects (RNGC) by J.W. Sulentic and W.G. JTifft (1973).  Revision of the NGC using the same catalog numbers.  Gives x,y coordinates of NGC objects on the original Palomar Sky Survey plates.
4. Index Catalogue (IC).  An extension of the NGC published by Dreyer in two parts in 1894 and 1907.
5. Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies (RCBG) published in 1964 by de Vaucouleurs and de Vaucouleurs.  Revised in 1976 to become the Second RCBG.  Gives much more extensive data than the NGC.
6. Catalogue of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies (1961-68).  A six-volume catalog down to m_v »16.0 by F. Zwicky et al.
7. Catalogue of Star Clusters and Associations (1970) by Ruprecht et al.  Bibliographies of all star clusters known in 1970.
8. Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae (1967) by L. Perek and L. Kohoutek.